Wildlife
The river, in its upper reaches, supports a wild brown trout population. Chub and perch dominate the middle reaches around Stamford, with pike, perch and zander inhabiting the lower lengths around Spalding.
A collaboration between the Welland Rivers Trust, the Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency has resulted in the construction of a rock ramp, to allow migrating sea trout to pass up the river beyond the weir on the Maxey Cut, which was acting as a barrier. Some 300 tons of rock, with 50 tons of finer material forming a top layer, were used to create the ramp. The finer material ensures that water mainly flows over the ramp, rather than through it. The ramp also enables young eels or elvers to move up the river, and provides habitat for stone loach and bullheads.
Large numbers of swans and geese use the river around Crowland, and out to sea. Smaller populations of each can be seen around the Stamford Meadows, and further upstream.
On the south bank of the river below Fosdyke bridge, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have established Moulton Marsh nature reserve, on a strip of land where soil was excavated to raise the banks in 1981. Habitat is provided by some broad-leafed woodland, covering 15 acres (6.1 ha), several salt-water lagoons and tidal scrapes, covering 35 acres (14 ha), and 40 acres (16 ha) of saltmarsh. A variety of birds can be seen, including Little Grebe and Water Rail, which spend the winter on the lagoons, while the scrapes, which consist of shallow pools and muddy shorelines, are visited by Common Redshank and Little Egret.
Between the river mouth and the River Witham, a large expanse of saltmarsh provides breeding grounds for Common Redshank, Eurasian Oystercatcher and Reed Bunting in the summer, and Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Common Shelduck and Common Teal in the winter. Birds of prey such as Hen Harrier and Merlin feed on the flocks of Linnet and Twite, while the mudflats support Dunlin, Whimbrel, and Bar-tailed Godwit. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have a reserve there, which is next to RSPB Frampton Marsh, a reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Read more about this topic: River Welland
Famous quotes containing the word wildlife:
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)